Heartbreaking Losses Often Punctuate Playoff and World Series Games.

NOT TOO LONG AGO, MIKE HARGROVE, MANAGER OF THE ORIOLES, WAS REMINISCING about the 1997 World Series which was won by the Florida Marlins over the Cleveland Indians in the 11th inning of Game 7.

It was an agonizing loss for the Indians who were then managed by Hargrove.

"About a year and a half or so after that World Series," Hargrove recalled, "a guy asked me how long it took me to get over that last game. I told him, `As soon as it happens, I'll let you know.'"

Hargrove's remark reflected the same feeling many other managers and players have experienced after suffering agonizing defeats in the playoffs or World Series.

The '97 World Series pitted two talented teams and could have gone either way, but a two-out single by Edgar Renteria just over the outstretched glove of Cleveland pitcher Charles Nagy gave the Marlins their stunning 3-2 victory.

"We were so close, and then we got it all taken away from us," mourned Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel.

Throughout major league history, playoff and World Series games have been punctuated by heartbreaking losses that have created similar expressions of regret among the vanquished.